Miscellaneous - Interview with Roland Benedetti

  by John Clarkson

published: 11 / 3 / 2004

intro

Parisian label GG0022 had been described alternately as a power pop label,a post-rock label and also an electronica label. Co-owner Roland Benedetti talks to John Clarkson about its increasing international reputation

Parisian label GG0022 had been described alternately as a power pop label,a post-rock label and also an electronica label. Born out of the ashes of two other labels, it is run by Roland Benedetti with his friends Cedric Menier and Julian Chailloux. The early releases on GG0022's roster were all by Parisian and other French acts. GG0022 has now, however, begun to develop much more of a wider international profile, and its most recent release, 'Keepsake' was a mini-album by the Seattle-based electronic indie act, Plan B. GG0022 also has various compilations in its catalogue. The most recent of these, '22.2', was much acclaimed, and, as well as featuring numbers from regular acts on its roster such as Bloom, Choa, Chut, Sexxee Tongue and the Bishop Invaders. it also has exclusive tracks from the Scottish guitar band, Vera Cruise, and American experimentalists Cartesian Lover. Pennyblackmusic spoke to Roland Benedetti about GG0022 and its increasing reputation. . PB : The name GGOO22 has both a futuristic feel and a sort of loose symmetry to it. Why did you decide to call your label by that name ? RB : In fact GGOO22 has been built from the experience of two other structures, Les Disques du 22 and Maggoo Records. Les Disques du 22 was a small independent label, gathering various bands : Chut!, Growin Hear, Sexxee Tongue, Quidam, Bloom, Choa . Its main activity was record production, in an alternative way. It was also involved in setting up some gigs. On the other side Maggoo records, animated by the Bishop Invaders, was doing a lot of things around the Bishop Invaders" : gigs, DJ party, recording .. As we are friends, we decided to merge and to call it GGOO22. PB : GG0022 had been described as a power pop label, a post-rock label and also an electronica label. How would you define it ? RB : It's hard to catch a name or a style ! Our music goes from electronica to indie pop and postrock . We're interesting in mixing influences and styles but in any case it remains indie ! PB : GG0022's manifesto is "to produce an alternative type of music without compromise, and to discover some of the talents ignored by mainstream record labels." Many other small labels have similar aims. What do you think GG0022 perhaps has which some of those other labels may not have ? RB : That philosophy may be shared by many other labels in the U.K., but not so much in France. You may find some alternative labels, but the majority of them aim to promote artists inside a closed and restricted set of initiated people. The way we understand music is definitely not to target a "happy few" audience. It's not often easy but we really try to always go outside of predefined schemes. This means connections, venues, artists . PB : GG0022 has lasted a long time. It recently celebrated its seventh anniversary. Why do you think it has achieved such longevity ? RB : This is a good question ! In my thoughts, we're still very young and it's hard thinking it's the 7th birthday !!! In fact to correct you GG0022 is about 1 year and a half old. Les Disques du 22 was around for about six years before that and Maggoo records was there for five. I think the main reason is that we did it step by step. We never tried to become a big structure, and at the moment we're still all voluntary, sharing GG0022 with our professional jobs (for some of us that is in the music area). Of course we would enjoy being 100% devoted to GG0022, but it's not yet the time to earn enough money to pay GG0022's people. We think it could be soon though. ! We hope it will, even if it's not the ultimate goal ! PB : Both labels began by putting out records by local largely Parisian bands such as Chut, Choa and the Bishop Invaders, but GG0022 has now expanded and started to put out recordings by other bands from abroad such as the Scottish group Vera Cruise and the American bands Plan B and Cartesian Lover. How did you hear about these bands, and why did you decide to release records by them ? Was it a case of simply being progress, or did you hope to develop for GG0022 more of an international profile in the process as well ? RB : There is no rule. You meet people and bands, and sometime you like what they do. Sometime they like what you do. Some have contacted us from our website. This is how started our collaboration with the Dutch distribution and booking label Wotnxt http://www.wotnxt.nl. We met other on stages. I think Vera Cruise did a mini tour in Scotland and Britanny with Chut ! I met Plan B in London. They were playing and I just talked with them at the end of the show, and we set up some dates in Paris for them. In fact Plan B is the first "non French" band with whom we released a record. Other connections were only for compilations or smaller collaborations. But one thing is sure, our music is not French music, and we really want to have an international experience. It's a lot more interesting ! PB : All 20 albums in the GG0022 catalogue have been albums or mini albums. Could you see GG0022 ever releasing a single ? RB : Of course we could ! The single may be less in French usage than in England ... That is the only reason I can see. Anyway, The Bishop Invaders will soon release a single vinyl ! PB : You're now a veteran at running a label. What advice would you give to anyone else wanting to start a label ? RB : Start small, remain passionate, don't try to follow trends . and never discourage yourself. I can't count the number of times we could have decided to stop . PB : You brought out the Plan B record a couple of months ago. What other plans do you have for the future ? In the short term, we have the single for the Bishop Invaders and a new album from Chut! Both are already recorded, ready to be released. This will be done before summer. We have also a lot of gigs planned in May and June. We're looking to set up some dates with Plan B , Chut! and the Bishop Invaders. We're also working of a new kind of "collection" that will be released only online and on limited release, mixing different bands. We also hope to have a new Choa album by the end of the year. We also want to really quickly launch an English version of our website http://www.ggoo22.com where you can find a lot of sounds ! We're publishing each month unreleased mp3s from known or new bands that we like. To promote our music, we're more and more relying on partners.We're not, and will never be a booking or distribution label ! So we try to find partners to help us, at every level. Pennyblackmusic is an example. Another example is Future Now http://www.futurenow.fr. They are managing the Bishop Invaders and we're working together to get stronger. We're really paying attention to the way the music distribution area is evolving, including new ways to sell music, online or offline. Things can move very fast ! The last point is that we started a radio show in France (called' 'It's all Ggoo'), and twice a month we've got an hour on a station, radio campus paris http://www.radiocampusparis.org playing music that we like ! For French Parisian readers, this will be on 93.9 FM. PB : Thank you

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